"Follett, James - Earthsearch 00 - Mindwarp" - читать интересную книгу автора (Follett James)

Hell fires burn within,
Outdoors! Outdoors!
Throw the wicked in!

`What are you doing?' Ewen demanded.

Outdoors! Outdoors!
Where flies and birds do dwell,
Outdoors! Outdoors!
Another name for hell!

`Well?'
The girl stopped chanting. She lowered her foot to the
floor and regarded her interrogator with suspicion. She had
bright, jade green eyes, and her hair was a mass of natural
blonde curls. Her undoubted prettiness was lost on Ewen.
`Playing,' she retorted. `What does it look like?'
`Playing what?'
`Playing at pretending to only have one leg.'
The imaginative leap that it took to pretend that one had
less legs than one really did would have been beyond most
children, but Ewen merely gave an indulgent smile. `A stupid
game,' he observed.
`In a minute I shall pretend to have six legs like a fly
and I'll kick you around the hall,' the girl retorted.
The threat amused Ewen. His imagination could go even
better. `And I shall pretend to have twelve legs like two
flies and kick you right back. What's your name?'
The girl decided that she liked the impish twinkle in his
blue eyes. `Jenine. What's yours?'
Ewen was about to tell her when a voice boomed around the
hall. `Striped badges forward please! All striped badges
forward!'
Ewen and Jenine were the only children with striped
badges.


4
The hall was now virtually empty. Kally kept Tarlan quiet
with a tight grip on his wrist, and threats while she watched
the technician out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't done
to stare at a technician. He was talking to the only two
parents left. They both looked too old to have such a young
daughter. Suddenly the mother was crying. Her husband put a
comforting arm around her.
`But you can't!' the mother sobbed loudly so that her
voice echoed around the hall. `You can't! You can't! Jenine's
our only child! She came when we had given up hope of having
a child! You can't take her from us! It'll kill us!'
At that moment Kally remembered more details of her